The Deadly Maria

the wonderful production manager and producer milanka comfort had seen samples and film clips with me during the ongoing shooting of “wir können auch anders” (at that time, the title was still “unternehmen victor”). unusual, because she actually had nothing to do with our film. on the other hand, the young, inexperienced production team around claus boje was grateful for any criticism, especially when it came from someone as trustworthy and competent as milanka comfort. i was lucky. milanka comfort was in the middle of preparing a feature film debut. the young tom tykwer had set his sights on none other than truffaut legend jean-pierre léaud for the male lead in his film “die tödliche maria”. however, the engagement could not be arranged, so tom tykwer had to decide on someone else within a relatively short time. then milanka comfort, under the impression of the material seen at boje/buck, suggested a meeting with me.

 

we met in a pub in berlin-charlottenburg, and in the ninety minutes that followed, tom tykwer told me, in real time so to speak, the complete script, from the first scene to the last. although ‘tell’ is not the right word. tom tykwer lived “die tödliche maria” for me. a deeply impressive performance. i was fascinated by the story and this film fool. our meeting ended with his request for me to pay for the few beers we had drunk, because he didn’t have any money with him. at that moment, i was convinced that this man would make his way in the film business. and i was happy to be allowed to go along with the first steps.

 

we met in a pub in berlin-charlottenburg, and in the ninety minutes that followed, tom tykwer told me, in real time so to speak, the complete script, from the first scene to the last. although ‘tell’ is not the right word. tom tykwer lived “die tödliche maria” for me. a deeply impressive performance. i was fascinated by the story and this film fool. our meeting ended with his request for me to pay for the few beers we had drunk, because he didn’t have any money with him. at that moment, i was convinced that this man would make his way in the film business. and i was happy to be allowed to go along with the first steps.”